SO, A newber is getting crispy.

There is a warning in the stickies about letting your company know you are a member here. I know my SUP to be does and I hope he and the guy read and figure out who it is who is posting. At this point I just dont care. I started at USIC around June. Class was stupid. We had a guy who did nothing but bitch about people using cell phones, sleeping (understandable) then proceded to scantly explain jack shit about locating, and what he did explain he would follow with "you will forget all this anyway'' Hm, I thought, this is a serious business locating gas, electric fiber cables and all that, surely they are kidding. Imean no one would be so flip about something so important. Well,they are. At USIC they are anyway or where i work they are. It gos like this. Me and another new guy were put on a project ticket. Lots if in and out of back yards. So I start one, went about 4 blocks, hooked up to every house, located every drop. did that all day only to get a call about taking to long on one ticket. Did update ticket on another guys he did nothing but spiderweb two or three peds, but did not mark any drops which several of these houses had drops three feet from the work which required marking 5 feet. Spoke to the SUP, lead tech, Safety guy and anyone else who will listen. All said "yeah those tickets suck. Figure something out." Thats one thing.

And yesterday, on another project ticket with another guy. Cool enough guy, but when he talked to the SUP to be the sup to be told him I diddnt close any tickets at all yesterday, and thats true. I diddnt. Thats because we had a master ticket that all other tickets would be referred to. So I was pretty pissed since yesterday I went balls out marking their crap in the 8 hours they gave me and got well over 20 houses done and thats both sides of the fence. Then today, the SUP to be's little pet had an upset tummy so had to go hone. All his tickets were so past due that they could not even be rescheduled. I emailed the sup to be, no response. Guess the fat sob was to busy eating. Dont know.

Here is what im sick of, Being told not to idle my truck when the lap top they gave me is such a POS that it cant run off the battery by some fat slob sitting in his truck or on their couch or office.

Getting sick of having my hours cut because I dont close 25 project tickets an hour by dudes who sit on their fat asses stuffing their faces all day and only get away with it because of whose pet they are.

Also sick of the retarded fleet managet who because he got to many wedgies in school thinks he will get his revenge by handing out busted shit and making idiotic comments like"no, new guys will use it until they put in time" fine retard, but give us crappy stuff that works.

And finally, CYA.I know of this from my time in the navy. But here, its a cowardly, woman like acronym and code word for " I handed a mess to another guy so im not responsible anymore. If your a new guy looking at USIC, bring patients and watch who you work with like a hawk.At least in Houston anyway because they will CYA by tossing you under a buss unless your lips are firmly attached to their ass.

Its a bummer to. I like the work allot. I really really hate 99% of the so called men who work here. As it is now, I dont know how im doing and at this point i could care less. Im only venting here so an email dont go to the top guy who ever the hell they are. USIC sucks ass. Even the covered ones.

A newber is getting crispy.

Greetings Madcow! WoW! I LUV your moxie (spunk)! It had to feel good for you to vent here on the 'Vine. I had to chuckle reading your take on lips and asses................. just sayin.'

Please Madcow, heed those emails that are sent by management types but don't take those emails as a personal assault against you. Management types take pride using the shotgun approach to send a message to one or two wayward clowns not taking into consideration the damage it causes of the morale to the vast majority of non-offenders. I let my finger do the talking when I read those hostile emails, "Delete!"

I have been a USICer for 20 years and I have to admit that some, not all, of my partners-in-crime are more than a little rough on noobs. You will notice a vast improvement of how you are treated by all after you have lasted 6 months or more in our trade. Right or wrong, veteran locators do not attempt to remember names until that noob has been around 6 months or more.

My suggestion is to ask your 'boss to be' to hook you up with a mentor. A mentor will definitely speed up your learning curve and make this job FUN! Ask your 'boss to be' for a mentor that ideally has 3 to 5 years field experience and who he/she thinks would be a good fit for you. Find a mentor that you are comfortable working with and wear that person out learning as much as you can. I have had many mentors through the years and I still remember who taught me each technique I use daily to this day.

Re: A newber is getting crispy.

Greetings Madcow! WoW! I LUV your moxie (spunk)! It had to feel good for you to vent here on the 'Vine. I had to chuckle reading your take on lips and asses................. just sayin.'

Please Madcow, heed those emails that are sent by management types but don't take those emails as a personal assault against you. Management types take pride using the shotgun approach to send a message to one or two wayward clowns not taking into consideration the damage it causes of the morale to the vast majority of non-offenders. I let my finger do the talking when I read those hostile emails, "Delete!"

I have been a USICer for 20 years and I have to admit that some, not all, of my partners-in-crime are more than a little rough on noobs. You will notice a vast improvement of how you are treated by all after you have lasted 6 months or more in our trade. Right or wrong, veteran locators do not attempt to remember names until that noob has been around 6 months or more.

My suggestion is to ask your 'boss to be' to hook you up with a mentor. A mentor will definitely speed up your learning curve and make this job FUN! Ask your 'boss to be' for a mentor that ideally has 3 to 5 years field experience and who he/she thinks would be a good fit for you. Find a mentor that you are comfortable working with and wear that person out learning as much as you can. I have had many mentors through the years and I still remember who taught me each technique I use daily to this day.

I understand. In my brief time here I have seen a few quit and get fired. Just not liking getting 20 project tickets to do in a day then having my hours cut because they aren't all done. I love this job I really do and I want to keep it, but the sup to bee and mentors does not seem realistic at this time.even the other new guy, a dude so mellow he likely has a resting pulse rate of .5 is beginning to wonder if he will be staying. 20 years at USIC. They say it was worse way back then. Hats off to you man. I'll draw hope for me and the other guy from that. I'll look into that mentor deal. See if it can get done.

Re: A newber is getting crispy.

I was able to get a more stable laptop quick with this method.

Leave the key turned on in the truck just enough to provide power to the laptop. Run your tickets, and call them to pay donlen to come out and give you a jump start, new battery, whatever. They get hit with multiple service charges they might freak. Or at the least make the sup get off their ass and come give you a jump.

This may not work, but it sounds hilarious. Just make sure to breakdown near someplace cool to sit while you wait.

Re: A newber is getting crispy.

Sounds like you are getting broke in, quick. Project tickets are cool because you spend time in one place and aren't packing up and driving to a new locate every so often.

If they are riding your butt because you are spending time running a project ticket then they have their billing system set up wrong. The impression I'm getting is they are only getting a flat rate per ticket. We charged a locate for every third hookup on a project ticket. If done this way, then you could rack up many billable locates. Also, drive time is non-locate time. I've charged 8-9 locates on a single ticket before. They should love that. They probably need to get a new contract.

It's not your fault but being the low guy on the totem pole you are stuck I guess.

A newber is getting crispy.

Greetings! I have a story to share about a noob that started this past spring.

The noob was mentored with a veteran locator who has decades of locating experience (not me) and possesses a bed-side manner with noobs that kinda/sorta stinks. Consequently, the noob fired a bevy of complaints, via email, about his mentor to the district manager bypassing the sup. The complaints exposed phone call conversations, locating short-cuts, witching and direct hook-ups to street lights. Of course, the veteran locator got questioned after each email complaint and quickly abandoned giving a crap about this noob. The word spread quickly in our team this noob was poison. Whenever the noob asked for help, the cold-shoulder response was, "You got to mark it all!" This noob lasted less than 3 months in the field. I am surprised he lasted that long.

Re: A newber is getting crispy.

Originally Posted by yahoo

sometimes .........I do feel bad for newbies .

I don't know.... I feel bad for Noobs solely because the training they receive from the company does not prepare them for what they truly see in the field. In Wing's example... Everyone should know the chain of command. I don't feel too sorry for that noob in particular, but I understand his frustration on coming out of a class and being filled with positivity and being saddled with a guy who doesn't give off a warm and fuzzy feeling. However, bitching to his boss's boss isn't the way to go.

Re: SO, A newber is getting crispy.

I have seen far too many noobs become disinterested in the job due to the poor training too often offered.

What makes it worse is the practice of waiting for dig season to start up to begin hiring noobs. Their assigned mentors are not relieved of workload and time to train a noob is insufficient.

It is cheaper, read more profitable, to better train noobs, spend classroom training time, money, and lower production requirements of the mentor to give the noob better training. This along with decent pay and benefits results in lower attrition and the company ends up with a better , more productive locator who makes bigger profits for the company.

Having to constantly hire and train locators results in company overall performance and production endangering the contract.

Stop and think, how many locators have to be hired and trained to end up with one 5 year experienced locator?

High attrition due to spending less money on poor training, pay and benefits costs a fortune.

Re: SO, A newber is getting crispy.

That's a good point. I never realized that locating companies do hire "just in time" to get them into the field as the wave of tickets start. Hire a month early and work out the kinks and build confidence then when the crap hits the fan they'll be better prepared and less likely to bail out of frustration.

Re: SO, A newber is getting crispy.

Originally Posted by TheCableVine

That's a good point. I never realized that locating companies do hire "just in time" to get them into the field as the wave of tickets start. Hire a month early and work out the kinks and build confidence then when the crap hits the fan they'll be better prepared and less likely to bail out of frustration.

To make my point clear, companies only think they hire "just in time" when the reality is they hire too late.

Re: SO, A newber is getting crispy.

Originally Posted by TheCableVine

That's a good point. I never realized that locating companies do hire "just in time" to get them into the field as the wave of tickets start. Hire a month early and work out the kinks and build confidence then when the crap hits the fan they'll be better prepared and less likely to bail out of frustration.

I think they need to hire when the work loads slow during the fall. They could even hire during the busy time and give them a few weeks in the classroom followed by Survey tickets. After their initial introduction to the field they should be saddled with a tech who's new enough to be patient with them, but yet not seasoned enough to be one of the high production guys. Training does kill production. Have the noob be the "box bitch" for a couple weeks. The repetition from the constant hooking up to utilities will help him. He can, at this time, grab a second receiver and see what the main tech is getting and see how the signals are and why and when to reconnect to utilities. There will be times when it tries both's patience but if they stick with it and the noob is observant they can pick up the proper way to approach the locate. Towards the end of those couple of weeks, the noob should be given a locate that in in the middle of the spectrum for skill needed to complete and let him go to see how he fairs. Make sure that this locate has something on it that will trip him up. Could be Traffic, a comm line that bypasses the obvious peds, or maps that don't show everything. Depending on the noob, they should be more ready for the field then just classroom time alone.

With this being said.... I did have one noob come back to me during his test locate and tell me that he wasn't cracked up for this and he wanted to quit. He was only 30min into the test locate. He went back to locate. in the additional hour and a half, he only put down a few dots and just a couple of stripes that didn't make any sense. As I walked him through the locate as I was doing the locate, he realized that his biggest error was where he hooked up at. It bled off on everything. It didn't help one bit that he was in the main quad at U of P where the main power, water, and steam tunnels came into.